Squid season consumes your last days of fishing. The northern management unit has already been closed and the few boats that fish south of 44º S will be able to do so until June 11.

 

The decision of the Consejo Federal Pesquero followed the recommendations of the researchers of the INIDEP Cephalopods Project, from which the report was presented on the situation as of May 27, which summarizes the evolution of the fishery in the 2021 harvest.

 

 

The document analyzed the available data on catch, effort, biological sampling and areas of operation of the jigging and trawling fleet. They also estimated the number of ships of the foreign jigging fleet that is operating within (Malvinas) and outside the exclusive economic zone; the population structure of the catches and the average weekly weights were determined from the biological sampling carried out by observers from the institute.

 

There were 71 boats that this season made up the national jigging fleet that participated in the extractive activity. They completed 250 trips and add up to a total of 5,708 days of fishing and 109,896 tons of catch. The average catch was 19 tons per day. The trawling fleet reported catch of 13,776 tonnes of which 89% was fished south of 44 ° S.

 

 

 

 

“Because the catches corresponding to the stocks that are normally fished north of 44 ° S during this season were detected up to 45 ° S, the analysis of the evolution of the average CPUE and accumulated weekly catches is presented considering this last geographical limit. ”, the INIDEP researchers clarified in the report.

 

Between weeks 12 and 18, the fleet fished the North Patagonian Buenos Aires Stock on the external platform between 40 ° and 44 ° S. There, the yield at the beginning was 28 tons per day, but it quickly declined to less than one ton per day.

 

Starting in week 19, the activity moved to the intermediate platform and was concentrated in two areas where the spring spawning stock began to be captured.

 

 

North of this latitude, the season started on March 22, the same number of vessels captured 24,977 tons, at an average of 13 tons per day.

 

The researchers estimated that, in the adjacent area of ​​our exclusive economic zone, in week 21, south of 44 ° S, 25 jiggers operated in rectangle 4257.

 

Regarding the activity of the foreign fleet that operates within the EEZ with illegal licenses in Malvinas, it was observed that as of March 2 (week 9) the number of vessels began to increase and remained at 104 between weeks 10 and 18. Then it began to decrease from week 19 until reaching the estimate of 11 boats in week 21, mainly in rectangle 4959. The total reported catch reaches 171,991 tons.

 

 

The season in national waters began to decline in May. In the first two weeks of last month, 32 jiggers caught 2,700 tonnes, or 13 tonnes per day, off the intermediate platform south of 52 ° S. Rectangles 5354 and 5264 contributed 96% of the total catch.

 

The INIDEP researchers had information from two observers who completed two trips on board, during which they took eight samples that recorded 1200 sampled specimens. 96% were females with mantle lengths greater than 25 cm and an average weight of 670 grams. They were identified as the last concentrations of the southpatagonic stock.

 

Towards the middle of the month and due to the fall in catches in the south, the boats moved to the intermediate platform north of 45 ° S where they fished 1,034 tons. Two areas carried 90% of the catches: rectangles 4260 and 4259.

 

 

The information collected in the samplings of an observer on board determined that the specimens had a size that varied between 13 and 21 cm in mantle length and were mostly immature. They corresponded to the spring spawning stock.

 

By virtue of this reality, the composition of the catches, small and immature specimens and the decreasing abundance, is that the closure of fishing was recommended in both management areas.